It’s exceedingly difficult to have excellent facilities, programs, equipment and supplies for ministry without funding. Which is why every church leader has wrestled with the need for more ministry income. Since most pastors don’t have the skill or desire to be full-time-fund-raisers they need systems and assets that will help increase revenues. One of the handiest assets to accomplish this is the church management software (ChMS or CMS) by Churchteams. Following are four ways Churchteams can help church leaders encourage their parishioners to give consistently.

1.) Recognize Giving Milestones // Many churches have a systematic way of appreciating donors as they progress in their generosity. Here are some examples of giving milestones their coinciding recognition.

·When a donor gives to the church for the first time they receive a hand-written “Thank You” note from the pastor and a book that inspires giving like The Treasure Prinicple by Randy Alcorn.

·When a donor has given a total of $500 during one calendar year they receive a letter from the pastor and a copy of his favorite Christian movie like The Song.

·When a donor has given a total of $1,000 during one calendar year they receive a letter from the pastor and a copy of his favorite devotional book, like Jesus Calling by Sarah Young.

·When a donor has given a total of $2,500 during one calendar year they receive a letter from the pastor and a copy of his favorite inspirational book like Weirdby Craig Groeschel.

·When a donor has given a total of $5,000 during one calendar year they receive a letter from the pastor and a copy of his favorite worship CD like Hillsong United Zion.

·When a donor has given a total of $8,000 during one calendar year they receive a letter from the pastor and a copy of his favorite Bible-study resource like Haley’s Bible Handbook.

·When a donor has given a total of $12,000 during one calendar year they receive a letter from the pastor and a copy of his favorite book about personal finance like The Total Money Makeoverby Dave Ramsey.

·When a donor has given a total of $20,000 during one calendar year they receive a letter from the pastor and a copy of his favorite business related book like The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni.

·When a donor has given a total of $50,000 during one calendar year they receive a letter from the pastor and a copy of his favorite church leadership book like Courageous Leadershipby Bill Hybels.

The point is to choose milestones that fit your church so your church will consistently appreciate those who have been giving. The principle is this: what gets rewarded gets repeated. The included letter should be tactful and grateful at the same time. There’s no need to mention the amount given, just to thank the donor for their generous support.

So what does this kind of tiered-appreciation-scale have to do with a church management system? You need a good system to track this kind of appreciation strategy. Churchteams allows you to track donor giving and to create custom fields that include the giving milestones you set. You can then run a weekly report based on those milestones so you can show appreciation every time a milestone is reached.

2.) Make Online Giving Easy // Online giving should not be complicated. With Churchteams it isn’t!! You can easily plug a giving link into your own website. Donors can give using their credit or debit cards and all donations are tracked through the Churchteams CMS.

3.) Offer Recurring Gift Option // Not only is it easy to give online using Churchteams, but it’s easy for people to give consistently. Donors can simple select the option to set up a recurring gift. A fact every church leaders needs to know is that people who choose to setup a regularly recurring gift, statistically, give more than people who do not.

4.) Text Reminders // Churchteams allows churches to send out mass texts directly through the church management software. Imagine using mass texts to remind people about opportunities to give. For example, send a three days before your annual Easter or Christmas offering. Or send a text reminding people of the launch date for your capitol fund-raising campaign. Mass texts are a simple and affordable way to send giving reminders out to your entire church.

Every church is unique so you will need to run these ideas through the filter of your own church culture before implementing them. Whether you use one or all of these ideas, you’ll find that your Churchteams CMS will help increase your ministry’s bottom line.

Alan Danielson is the Senior Pastor of New Life Bible Church in Norman, Oklahoma. Previously he served as Central Team Leader for LifeGroups at LifeChurch.tv in Edmond, OK, where he led over a thousand small groups on LifeChurch’s thirteen campuses in six different states. He then founded 3Threat.net to help leaders master three essential leadership skills: vision-casting, creating strategy and fostering relationships. Alan is a popular conference speaker and consults regularly with ministries and leaders on topics relating to small groups and leadership. Learn more from Alan at www.3Threat.net.